Chrono Voyage

Chapter 11: The Creator

     “So where are we?” Benjamin stepped on the dark gray cobblestone and looked up to the sky, he couldn’t see much because the view was obstructed by the roofs of the white houses with red roofs that were nearby. Elizabeth parked the time machine in a dark alley where people usually don’t go often, she was careful like that, at least when she didn’t want to be discovered. But this time she parked it really close to where she wanted to be, she wasn’t careful at all, simply because she didn’t care anymore, in fact, she felt betrayed and when she felt that she felt anger. The thoughts were just buzzing about in her head she had other things to worry about, and not where she parked the machine or what Benjamin had just asked her. They got out of the alley with Benjamin just innocently following because there wasn’t much that he can do. They found themselves in front of a square or rather a piazza. In front of them, there was a large building built out of red bricks in the style of a cathedral, but it wasn’t a cathedral rather than a basilica, not just any basilica but it was Santa Babila. Benjamin looked at the building and the people that we're walking about in their renaissance clothes, there was a column in front of Santa Babila a column made out of gray blocks of stone, and on the top, there was supposed to be a gray lion, but it wasn’t a lion rather it was the Prophet's flag carved out of stone. Elizabeth at this point was sickened by that symbol first in St. Petersburg the golden angel held the flag instead of a cross and now this. The same symbol with a black triangle, a white circle, and all of that with a red background, seemed rather like the swastika flag thought Elizabeth, but they weren’t here for the lion that was missing nor the flag, they were here because of a particular person and not just any person, but one of the greatest minds in human history.

     “Would you mind if you explained where we were going?” asked Benjamin this time determined to get an answer.

     “You will find out soon enough,” Elizabeth led the way down the paved road, and it was just right around the corner to the left where they made their stop in front of a peculiar house that was sort of a bridge connecting the buildings between the road below supported by a single wide column that was long as the house accompanied by two arched tunnels on each side so that people could pass beneath and be on their business, a rather strange house to be living in, having people pass through underneath your floor. Elizabeth turned and saw a wooden door. She didn’t even bother knocking on the door and just opened it and entered inside.

     “What are you doing?” jumped Benjamin pulling her forearm towards him. “You can’t just enter into people’s houses, they would think you a… burglar,” he looked at her.

     “Come on, you are going to want to see this for yourself,” she assured him and proceeded inside the house. The interior was simple, white walls some brown drawers, and cupboards filled with paper rolled into a tube and tied with a thin rope. They climbed a set of wooden stairs and that’s when Benjamin lost his marbles. She was right, he was going to want to see this, his eyes popped and his jaw dropped, not at the interior mind you, but at what was in the room. He climbed the stairs and starred at a particular painting a very famous painting in his time it was the ‘The Last Supper,’ he slowly moved towards the painting to get a better look at it. He gasped and couldn’t believe what he was actually seeing. “They’ve defaced it!” he turned at Elizabeth since it wasn’t Jesus in the middle of the painting but it was none other than the Prophet.

     “It’s the original one,” Elizabeth looked at him from behind. “And so is this one,” Benjamin turned behind and saw as Elizabeth stood next to the ‘Mona Lisa.’

     “What?” Benjamin moved toward it.

     “And this…” Elizabeth held the original paper of the ‘Vitruvian Man.’

     “Put that down that is priceless,” panicked Benjamin. “How did you get into possession of all of these things?” he asked.

     “Well I didn’t steal them, never wanted to, I can’t understand why people are going crazy about them, I personally never found anything amazing about painting let`s just say I’m interested in another art that we humans have come up with… science,” she finished.

     “So if you didn’t steal them, and this is not your place, then where are we? And what are we doing here?”

     “Ah… well, that should have been obvious by now but…” she pointed towards an open door that led into another room of the house. Benjamin walked toward the room and saw a man sitting slouched on a wooden chair, an old man, a balding man with a long white beard, Benjamin took a step forward and the wooden boards on the floor creaked startling the old man that was writing something down. He turned at him with an angry expression on his face, his big black eyes, the big nose, and the white long beard… it was him! Benjamin couldn’t believe it that Elizabeth took him to see his favorite painter of all time who else than Leonardo da Vinci.

     “Cosa stai facendo qui? Tu chi sei!?” he spoke angrily toward Benjamin.

     “He is with me,” Elizabeth walked from behind Benjamin and stood next to him.

     “Elizabeth…” said Leonardo surprised. “Long time no see,” he said with nervousness this time and a hint of an Italian accent.

     “Yes indeed, old chap,” she paced around the room.

     “You know each other?” asked Benjamin who was confused.

     “Inventor attracts inventor and so on…” said Elizabeth.

     “Well sit down, let me get you something to eat, you must be exhausted dear, from your trip,” raced Leonardo.

     “Actually it wasn’t that long nor exha…” spoke Benjamin.

     “Yes it was a rather long and exhausting trip from England,” Elizabeth looked at Benjamin with a warning to no speak further, it would seem Leonardo has no clue that she can time travel. “Now then, there is no time to waste,” she looked over Leonardo’s shoulders and saw a drawing on paper that was attached to the wall above his table where he worked. “It has come to my attention there is a new invention of yours…” she looked at him.

     “How do you know?” he looked at her suspiciously. “It’s not an invention it’s more of a drawing mixed with a bit of math,” he walked towards his table and picked out a paper from the stack, he lifted the parchment and showed Elizabeth a drawing of a Rhombicuboctahedron.

     “Interesting, but I am here because of something more complicated, something no one has dared invent except me…” she walked closer towards him.

     “I don’t know what you are talking about,” he stood firmly not showing any sign of fear in front of her.

     “Oh come on mate, you didn’t even bother to hide it,” Elizabeth was annoyed because he dared lie to her, she moved past him and detached the paper from the wall, and showed it to him.

     “What?” Benjamin could not believe it as he moved closer to the drawing. “But how could he possibly know?” he asked.

     “How indeed?” Elizabeth looked at Leonardo. The drawing was the same as the suit that Woodward and the Prophet wore, down to the very last insignificant detail so how is it that a painter from the Renaissance has heard of something called time travel and designed these golden armors. “Please…” Elizabeth said quietly. “We’ve known each other through thick and thin, you at least owe me an explanation,” Leonardo with a look full of guilt starred at the floor before sitting down on his chair next to his workbench.

     “There was a boy, a young one, a smart one,” he started while Elizabeth and Benjamin opened their ears wide. “He didn’t tell me the name, his hair was different as if he put some kind of color on it, and he wore a mask.”

     “It was him, it was the Prophet,” interrupted Benjamin.

     “What?” Leonardo looked at him confused. “What Prophet? You mean the Prophet?”

     “There’s only one,” confirmed Elizabeth.

     Leonardo chuckled. “You don’t expect me to believe that the Prophet of all times has come to visit me? The Prophet asked for my help?” he laughed, but Benjamin and Elizabeth remained serious, he looked at them and wiped the smile from his face. “You’re serious?” he looked at Elizabeth. “Oh… my…” his voice broke and he started shaking. The Prophet himself visited him and asked for his help if only he knew… but he did. “Yes…” he remembered. “That’s what he wanted me to call him,” the dots connected to him. The same armor that he painted in ‘The Last Supper,’ was the same armor that he himself designed. Could it be that the Prophet made him oblivious to this detail? It’s no surprise since he managed to alter Elizabeth’s memory.

     “So you haven’t got the foggiest what he looked like?” asked Elizabeth.

     “No, I am sorry,” he looked at the table and picked up another drawing. “He threatened on my life if I didn’t design what he desired. With this,” Leonardo showed them a drawing of a modern 21st-century pistol. “Such contraption I have never seen, but I have seen what it does, in order to make himself clear he did a demonstration on a poor homeless fellow, said he relieved him from his suffering.”

     “It’s a clue enough right? I mean when was that gun designed?” asked Benjamin.

     “It’s a start,” Elizabeth looked at the drawing. “But we’ve got to narrow it down. You designed it, but for what purpose, did he tell you anything else, did he give you a device for you to implement into the armor?” Elizabeth asked.

     “No, but I do remember he specifically asked for some space to be left out perhaps he planned on using it for something.”

     “What could it be?” asked Benjamin.

     “An armor like this… it’s the perfect design for warfare,” commented Leonardo.

     “We need to go,” Elizabeth looked at Benjamin. “I am going to need to hold on to these,” she tucked the papers inside her pocket. “Leonardo…” she looked at him. “Whatever is going to happen in your life, you will see me as the villain but one day, I shall come and all will be clear, just keep that brilliant mind working,” she left him confused as she grabbed Benjamin by the hand and dragged him down the stairs and walked down the paved road.

     “Those compartments that he asked to be left out, he had a use for them, the nuclear fuel, the time travel device, the wings, he needed space in the armor for all of that,” Elizabeth explained to him as they raced down the road toward the alley where the machine was parked. “Whoever he is, he must know what he is doing, it can’t be just whoever, he has knowledge of nuclear energy, aerodynamics and time travel, someone smart,” concluded Elizabeth

     “I suppose that makes sense,” said Benjamin. “What does not make sense is what you said to him at the end before we disappeared in a matter of seconds.”

     “We will kidnap him,” said Elizabeth directly.

     “What!?” Benjamin jumped again. 

     “Oh come on mate don’t worry, we are not going to harm him,” assured Elizabeth.

     “Well what for?” he stopped walking.

     “You heard what he said, at one point in the history of time the Prophet came to him demanding that he creates the armor, and there won’t be an armor if there is no one to create it,” explained Elizabeth.

     “And you think that he just won’t find it suspicious nor go to another inventor?” asked Benjamin.

     “Nobody had the same eye for detail as da Vinci, nobody could make it perfect as he did,” Benjamin looked away towards the distance and thought of something.

     “Well that’s it… detail!” he yelled. “You have that drawing, right? The plans for the armor?” Elizabeth pulled them out from her pocket. “We don’t have to harm anybody, nor kidnap him for that matter,” he looked at her all excited and whatnot.

     “Well come on then! Spit it out!” she was impatient.

     “Given the compartments that have been left out I suppose we could fit in a little something.”

     “What?” Elizabeth looked at him confused.

     “This…” he held the earpiece in his hand. “You told me this could produce sound from very far away. We could listen to him.”

     “Bloody hell…” murmured Elizabeth. “You are a genius mate!” she hugged him. “Okay maybe not this, but there is something better,” she walked toward the alley.

     They entered the time machine and came out in the future near an electronics store, Elizabeth entered and came right away as she entered the time machine starting it again. “Tracking device,” she pulled out a little black thing no bigger than a bug. “These are more advanced and he won’t be able to notice it,” 

     “Wait…” Benjamin held out his hands in the time machine as only the sound of the whirring engine filled the space and the moving pictures in the tunnel of time.

     “Well?” Elizabeth waited for him to say what he had to say.

     “If you plan on putting that device to track him, doesn’t that mean that in the future the device is in place and it’s working?”

     “Well look at you! Getting all smart and whatnot!” smiled Elizabeth. “But no…” Elizabeth wished that time travel worked like that but it wasn`t that simple.

     “Well, why not?” Benjamin asked his confidence shattered, thinking that he finally began to understand time travel.

     “If we don’t do it in the past, then the timeline won’t overwrite itself, just because we said so, we have to take action in order to change it, its what the Prophet is doing, he goes back in time and changes it so that the future is as he wants it to be,” she explained.

     “How does it all work? The concept of time and everything?” Benjamin was curious.

     “Time itself is a different dimension, a fourth dimension Einstein called it. It has a start and an endpoint, the start is the singularity after the big bang, and the end is the collapse of the universe itself. Time exists always it does not move through us we move through it, meaning that the date of your death exists somewhere in the fourth dimension, but your biological clock hasn’t gotten there yet, we are just surfers on the great sea called time until we reach the end of the shoreline,” she explained as simply as she could.

     “So you are saying everything that we do in our lives is predetermined? No matter what action we do we are still going to end up where time has decided?”

     “Time does not decide mate, it does not have a brain on its own, if it had it would explode from all the things that it would have to deal with. The actions we take from our own free will determine the outcome, our outcome. Time has merely and roughly predicted that outcome. But on the large scale of things you are right, if you know the fate of one then there is nothing that an individual can do to change it unless you tell him. If you were to die tomorrow and I told you about it, you could just stay at home and not die, technically there is a little bit of free will, a stone cannot move and won’t move therefore in the future that stone would still be in the same spot,” she finished.

     “So time does very accurate predictions of one’s life?” he looked out of the window and into the darkness of time.

     “It’s called Psychohistory and it takes more than just the human brain to calculate where one’s fate is going to finish and time calculates it effortlessly. But this…” she tapped on the console. “This machine is the ultimate form of free will, this thing can dictate time as you please, once you change something in history time just resets and rewrites your new fate in a matter of milliseconds. If you wish great empires and galactic civilizations can cease to exist, it would be as if they never existed, just like that” she snapped her fingers. “You can bend civilizations to your own will if you tell them just one lie, a lie that you have planted since the beginning of time, that is what the Prophet is doing,” she looked at him, Benjamin was simply lost he had a hard time processing all of this and on top of that the mention of galactic civilizations what does that even mean?

     “How is one allowed such a piece of technology if one uses it for evil?” he asked.

     “Look at my works ye mighty and despair, am I right? No one is allowed, I am the only one that can travel, somehow he stole it from me. But I knew what I was getting myself into since I built the machine, people think that plague and nuclear technology are dangerous, but this is the most dangerous of all.”

     “Time travel…” spoke Benjamin as Elizabeth nodded. “How did you come with the idea?”

     “Simple, a lot of scientists focus to build the machine based on time and its laws, but this one is built to jump dimensions between third and fourth only, and as it happens time is in the fourth dimension,” she explained.

     “So we plant the device in his armor and a new timeline exists where he has the device?”

     “No the previous timeline gets erased, the timeline of what should have happened if he didn’t have the tracking device since we are going to plant it that timeline never existed, never will and a new one takes its place.”

     “So that time when we were at the clothing store in New York, time sped up and all of a sudden everything was different, it was then when he reset the whole of time,” spoke Benjamin.

     “And we are here to bring it to what it once was,” said Elizabeth as she directed the machine and they found themselves in the same alley in Milano, but it was dark now. They sneaked into Leonardo’s house, the armor stood attached to a clothes stand, it wasn’t finished just yet, and left the device with instructions on his table and Elizabeth had signed the paper so that Leonardo knows to trust her.